Afghan president seeks to limit NATO airstrikes

Afghan President Hamid Karzai speaks with a media member after a press conference at the presidential palace in Kabul, Afghanistan on Tuesday, May 31, 2011. Angered by civilian casualties, Karzai said Tuesday he will no longer allow NATO airstrikes on houses, issuing his strongest statement yet aga

/ AP

Afghan President Hamid Karzai speaks with a media member after a press conference at the presidential palace in Kabul, Afghanistan on Tuesday, May 31, 2011. Angered by civilian casualties, Karzai said Tuesday he will no longer allow NATO airstrikes on houses, issuing his strongest statement yet against strikes that the military alliance says are key to its war on Taliban insurgents. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq)

Afghan President Hamid Karzai speaks with a media member after a press conference at the presidential palace in Kabul, Afghanistan on Tuesday, May 31, 2011. Angered by civilian casualties, Karzai said Tuesday he will no longer allow NATO airstrikes on houses, issuing his strongest statement yet against strikes that the military alliance says are key to its war on Taliban insurgents. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq) (/ AP)

HEIDI VOGT and RAHIM FAIEZ, Associated Press

Angered by civilian casualties, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Tuesday he will no longer allow NATO airstrikes on houses, issuing his strongest statement yet against attacks that the military alliance says are vital to its war on Taliban insurgents.

NATO countered that airstrikes on houses are essential and will continue, setting up a possible confrontation with Karzai.

The president's remarks followed a recent strike that mistakenly killed a group of children and women in southern Helmand province. Karzai declared it would be the last.

"From this moment, airstrikes on the houses of people are not allowed," Karzai told reporters in Kabul.

Ordering airstrikes is a command decision in Afghanistan. A NATO spokeswoman there, Maj. Sunset Belinsky, insisted they would continue.

"Coalition forces constantly strive to reduce the chance of civilian casualties and damage to structures," Belinsky said, "but when the insurgents use civilians as a shield and put our forces in a position where their only option is to use airstrikes, then they will take that option."

In Brussels, NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu insisted NATO airstrikes are still essential. She said the alliance takes Karzai's concerns very seriously and would continue to make every effort to avoid civilian casualties. She said airstrikes on houses are coordinated with Afghan forces and "they continue to be necessary."

"In many of these operations, Afghans are in the lead," she said. She would not comment specifically on the recent raid in Helmand province.

Belinsky also offered a conciliatory tone. "In the days and weeks ahead we will coordinate very closely with President Karzai to ensure that his intent is met," she said. Karzai has previously made strong statements against certain military tactics, such as night raids, only to back away from them later.

If Karzai holds to what sounds like an order to international troops to abandon most airstrikes, it could bring the Afghan government into direct conflict with its international allies.

Karzai's spokesman said the president plans to stand firm on this issue, regardless of the fallout with NATO.

"The president was very clear today about the fact that bombardments on Afghan homes and Afghan civilians are unacceptable and must be stopped. There is no room for back and forth on this," Waheed Omar said. "The president was clear in saying that any such strikes in the future will make the Afghan government react unilaterally."

NATO airstrikes target Taliban and other militants in towns and villages. The international force has scaled back such strikes because of worries that civilians could be inside targeted buildings, but has maintained that they are still an essential tool because they are often more precise and can be less costly in casualties on both sides than ground operations.

It is unclear if Karzai has the power to order an end to such strikes. NATO and American forces are in Afghanistan under a United Nations mandate. Negotiations between the United States and the Afghan government over the presence of U.S. forces have become contentious. Karzai has declared that he will put strict controls on how U.S. troops operate.

In his speech, Karzai did not explain what his threat of "unilateral action" would mean, but said he plans to discuss it with NATO officials next week.

He noted that he has repeatedly told his international allies that civilian deaths from air strikes are unacceptable.

"If this is repeated, Afghanistan has a lot of ways of stopping it, but we don't want to go there. We want NATO to stop the raids on its own ... because we want to continue to cooperate," he said.

Karzai said that NATO forces risk being seen as an "occupying force," using the same phrase that Taliban insurgents use to describe the international coalition.

"They must treat Afghanistan as a sovereign nation," Karzai said.

A spokesman for the NATO military coalition led by U.S. Gen. David Petraeus said that the alliance is as concerned as Karzai about being perceived as occupiers and is working to transfer as much authority to Afghans as it can.

"Gen. Petraeus has repeatedly noted that every liberation force has to be very conscious that it can, over time, become seen as an occupation force," Rear Adm. Vic Beck said in a statement.

"We are in agreement with President Karzai on the importance of constantly examining our actions in light of that reality - and we are doing just that," Beck said. He noted that NATO has increased Afghan leadership in night raids and that Petraeus has repeatedly emphasized to troops the importance of doing everything possible to reduce civilian casualties.

At least nine civilians were killed in Saturday's air strike in Helmand province, according to NATO. Afghan officials have said 14 were killed, including at least 10 children and two women.

NATO officials have apologized for the strike on two houses in Nawzad district, saying their troops thought the targeted compound housed only insurgents when they ordered the strike.

Southwest regional commander U.S. Marine Maj. Gen. John Toolan said that NATO launched the airstrike after an insurgent attack on a coalition patrol in the district killed a Marine. Five insurgents occupied a compound and continued to attack coalition troops, who called in an airstrike "to neutralize the threat," Toolan said.

The troops later discovered civilians inside the house.

Karzai has vacillated between calling for an end to airstrikes and night raids and softer rebukes of NATO forces, telling them to exercise more caution. NATO has managed to significantly reduce civilian casualties from its operations in recent years.

Meanwhile, civilians deaths from insurgent attacks have spiked.

At least 2,777 civilians were killed in Afghanistan in 2010, a 15 percent increase over the prior year, according to a United Nations report. The insurgency was blamed for most of those deaths, while civilian deaths attributed to NATO troops declined 21 percent.

The fighting has also continued to take the lives of international and Afghan forces. In the latest death Tuesday, a NATO service member was killed in a bomb attack in eastern Afghanistan, according to a statement from NATO forces. The military alliance did not provide further details. The U.S. also announced that three of its service members were killed in a bomb attack in the east on Saturday

Including these deaths, 55 NATO service members have been killed in May, including at least 31 Americans.

In the capital on Tuesday, a blast killed a civilian in a crowded market, police spokesman Hashmat Stanekzai said. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. A police officer in the area said it appeared to have been a private dispute that turned violent. A man threw a grenade at a private vehicle that had no obvious government or NATO affiliation, the officer said, giving only his first name, Rafiullah.